From November 1984 to January 1985 we conducted a cross-sectional study of Chagas’disease in eight municipalities in the Sertão of the State of Paraíba, Brasil: Piancó, Olho D'Água, Catingueira, São José de Caiana, Emas, Mãe D’Água, Água Branca and Imaculada. The prevalence of infection by T. cruzi in a random sample of 5,137 persons (34.7% of the total population) evaluated by the immunofluorescent test averaged 9.5% with limits between 6.7% (in São José de Caiana) and 16.3%(Olho D'Água). The prevalence of the infection was higher in the women and increased with age in both sexes. A clinical and electrocardiographic case- control study done in 305pairs of persons, one with a positive serology and the other with a negative serology, matched by age and sex, showed 26.5% of cardiopathy in the seropositives and 13.7% in the seronegative group. Therefore the excess risk of chagasic cardiopathy was 12.8% for the seropositive group. In both seropositive and seronegative groups there was an increase of cardiopathy with the age, but the frequency of cardiopathy was higher in men in the seropositive group. However, in the chest x-ray of 108 seropositives and 98 seronegative there was no case of cardiomegaly. There were only two cases of aperistalsis of the oesophagus among the seropositives. The positivity of xenodiagnosis in a sample of 100 individuals seropositives was only 13.0%. This could signify a low parasitemia caused by a lack of adaptation of T. cruzi strains for man. This might also explain the lo w grade of chagasic cardiopathy in that area (12.8%).
Chagas’disease; Crossectional study; Chagasic infection; Paraíba